For Us Winter Texans

I was reading about the first act at an outdoor music venue we go to sometimes down here in Brownsville, and the post said the artist would be on from 6-8 pm, “for you Winter Texans.” Aka, old people who like to go to bed early. I’m in!

So, we stood in the chilly evening air with beers in hand, listening to a young woman play and sing songs she must’ve learned only for us (I mean really, Crowded House?). It felt good, though, to be around the handful of year-round Texans there, locals hanging at their local spot. That’s at least what I like to think.

Heck, those are celebrated locals on the venue wall behind me, San Benito’s own Freddy Fender (Tracy had to tell me about him) and the young Charlie Crockett (ditto, but Charlie’s star is just now rising). I like what’s left of local culture here, but I have to admit that I am now a Winter Texan whose presence is maybe undermining it. Still, when this girl played Chris Isaak, her husband accompanied her on the guiro.

Starship Flight 7 Up Close

Our big Winter Texans excitement was watching Starbase’s recent launch, basically from the campground. Well, we rode our bikes to the railroad tracks right behind the trailer because the tiny bit of elevation there gave us a view of the rocket on the ground, firing up for the launch. We’re about 15 miles as the crow flies from Starbase, so while we didn’t feel the launch in our chests, we did hear the sonic boom.

Here’s my 45-second video of the launch (but turn down your volume—we’re talking over it loudly).

Even with our neighbors streaming the launch on their phones with commentary, we had no idea what was going on. Did it go above the atmosphere? Is that it coming down super fast? Can it be caught like that? Turns out, as you probably know, the Starship (the main rocket section) exploded well over the Caribbean, and what we saw come back to be caught here was the Super Heavy booster.

Here it is falling back, being guided towards the chopstick-like catching apparatus. Amazing.

What I enjoyed about the launch was environment I was in while watching it. The road we’d biked to is little a dirt road Tracy goes birding along, so he rode off to bird during the launch delay. Two Teslas sped down the road after him, no doubt headed to watch from the only other spot on that dirt road, a gun club. I stayed and chatted with our neighbors, our actual neighbors at the campground who also thought of this handy location to watch the launch from. We compared notes on cameras, two of us having bought fancy ones for previous summers spent in Alaska and two of us being disappointed by those cameras. One couple’s from Quebec, and their teacup dog normally sits on their RV’s dashboard to watch me ride my bike by. Two are (rare-in-RVing) same-sex couples who travel together. I enjoyed standing on a dirt road in South Texas with them all, trying to figure out what was going on in space above us. Very Winter Texan of us.

Time in Nature by Myself

Last week during a bit of warm weather I rode my bike down that road by myself. I’d completely forgotten how much I enjoy being by myself in nature.

I’m biking instead of walking these days (better for the knee), but rarely do I get to bike where there’s no one else around. You can stop and look at any old thing you want to, that way.

You have the freedom to think, to forge ahead, to appreciate views that maybe aren’t so spectacular.

To get more time in nature by myself, I went with Tracy on a birding outing, despite that day’s cold and threat of rain. I packed a day pack full of rain gear and snacks and a fold-up camping chair, so I could head in another direction and leave the birding to him. I’d forgotten how much I really like a day pack! How self-sufficient I feel with all my important doodads packed neatly on my back.

I’d also forgotten my limitations. That snacks in my pack last about a half hour. Also, that giving me a map is about as useful as giving me a bag of marbles.

I didn’t get lost though, because I was under the roof of a bird blind when the rain started in earnest, so I sat there all morning with my snacks and my book and a bunch of birds I couldn’t identify because I’d forgotten the spare binoculars. It was a cozy type of adventure.

Other Winter Texan Goings-On

A flock of migrating American White Pelicans flew over the little drainage area behind the trailer, scouting it out.

I’ve started calling this bit of water a resaca, even though it must’ve been made by the RV park construction crew. There’s more wildlife in and on it this year than last, though, and we’re guessing these birds have been displaced from natural water around here due to so much construction, and they’re having to settle for us. We’ve had three Roseate Spoonbills hanging with the one Great Egret, plus the ever-hovering Northern Harrier. Sometimes the harrier flies low over the campground, hoping for a baby jack rabbit.

Other goings-on:

A stray dog in the park, likely to become one of the 300 dogs the city puts down per month. The hoofprint of a nilgai antelope, imported long ago from India. My latest attempt to deal with the white walls of our tiny bathroom.

These are the things we Winter Texans are up to, before the oncoming cold snap.